Monday, July 26, 2010

whatever it takes

A veteran of Frost Valley years on staff will tell you many urgent things if you ask. (And if you ask, be ready for Ancient Mariner-like tale-telling. Spare more than a few minutes.) The first or second thing they will say is that everyone, absolutely everyone, stands ready to do pretty much anything that needs to be done. It's, at base, a camp--and so "anything" typically entails physical work: popping tables in the dining hall, picking up trash, hauling luggage in a truck, emptying garbage cans, raking and picking up stones, digging ditches in the event of a septic problem. We've all done it here; we've all done it all. I was reminded of this yesterday when I noticed our Director of Housekeeping Services, Jeff Williams, standing in the front of the dining hall, during two loud dinner shifts of camp, like a soldier on alert, small broom and dustbin at the ready. I asked him what he was doing. He said that one of his staff needed some time off and that rather than shifting everyone around he figured he'd be on call in the dining hall. Impressive. A little later I had a bit of paper--a wrapper--in my hand as Jeff and I were talking and he saw the paper and held up the dustbin and smiled. That smile said, Just here to help. Whatever it takes.